What are you doing at this exact moment in time? Reading my article, certainly, but what led you here? Did you choose to click on Xavier’s Examiner? Did my article, in particular, catch your eye? Was it your own free will that brought you to read this? You could have chosen to read a different article, that’s for sure. You could have decided to walk out of the room and into Starbucks for a drink instead, but you didn’t. Now, what if it wasn’t you who made this choice? What if someone could control your every decision: whether you will eat frosted flakes or cheerios for breakfast; whether you will go to school or stay home and watch Netflix; whether you will take your medicine or flush it down the toilet instead; whatever the choice may be, you wouldn’t have control.

Would you believe me if I told you that someone else controlled you?

No, you probably would not believe me if I told you that someone else was controlling your every move. That idea is absurd. You are in control; your thoughts and choices are your own, unlike the dystopian reality in the Netflix conceptual film, “Bandersnatch”. When you ‘play’ this movie, you get to make minuscule and life-changing decisions for a teenage boy, as if you were in control of someone else’s fate. You make him pour tea on his computer. Then you watch him give up on his work and receive the therapy he needs. You can go back and make him continue to work without destroying the computer. Then you can watch him go insane and kill his father. Twisted, I know, but you chose that for him. You watch every possible outcome of every decision you make for him, and you come to the conclusion that his reality is nothing like your own life. No one is controlling your every move. Your decisions lead to your own consequences. This time you chose not to believe me.

Or.

Yes, you probably would believe me if I told you that someone else was controlling your every move. The idea is not at all absurd. All the choices that you have made and will make are not your own, just like the Netflix conceptual film, “Bandersnatch”. When you ‘play’ this movie, you determine what choices a teenage boy will make and you witness each outcome. This all seems familiar like you have done this before. You make him accept a life-changing offer from a video game company. Then you see him fall apart from failure. You go back and make him decline the offer. Then you watch how his work tears him apart and makes him kill his father. Twisted, I know, but you chose that for him. You watch multiple endings after every decision you make for him and when it’s all over you believe that someone else is controlling your every move. Your reality is exactly like what you just witnessed. Someone else’s decisions lead to your own consequences. This time you chose to believe me.